Seeking Asylum in the United States: The Process Confronting Those Fleeing From Violence in the Northern Triangle
View/ Open
Author
Lee, Taylor Douglas
Subject
Washington and Lee University -- Capstone in Latin American and Caribbean Studies
Asylum, Right of
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951 July 28)
Human rights -- Government policy
Central America
United States
Metadata
Show full item recordDescription
Capstone; [FULL-TEXT FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE] Taylor Douglas Lee is a member of the Class of 2018 of Washington and Lee University. The purpose of this document is to describe the preliminary portion of the often complex process for seeking defensive asylum in the United States. This document considers “the preliminary portion” of the defensive asylum process to include all events between an asylum seeker's arrival at a U.S. port of entry until the decision by an asylum officer as to whether an applicant has a credible fear of persecution upon deportation to his/her country of origin. Specifically, this document examines the experience that confronts asylum seekers who flee from violence in the Northern Triangle of Central America – an area severely affected by the influence of large criminal organizations known as maras. After providing an objective description of the asylum process until the credible fear interview (CFI), the document concludes by offering suggestion as to how the U.S. government might improve the preliminary stages of the asylum seeking process to align more closely with U.S. domestic law and international human rights obligations. Taylor Lee